The centerpiece to this trip is a panoramic train ride from a Swiss town called Chur to the ultra-glamorous Zermatt. The train is called the Glacier Express and it sells out months in advance.
We’ve been booked since you can for the Chur-Zermatt segment, which is six hours. The full ride is either St. Moritz-Zermatt or the reverse. We didn’t have enough time to do the full ride as it would have required an overnight in St. Moritz the night before.
As it was we had to pick up a regular intercity train from Munich to Chur that left at 06:55 and arrived Chur at 10:47, just 18 minutes before the Glacier Express departed for Zermatt.
We had bought First Class tickets, which were expensive enough, but they also have what they call Excellence Class. To be honest, the 1×2 seating in First was just fine and the service (meals, drinks) weren’t special enough to pay the premium for Excellence.
Also note that you can get First Class at half price with a Swiss Half Fare card. More on that later.
Wow what a beautiful ride. The middle was probably the most exciting because the train rises to over 9,000 feet at the Oberalppass.
The highest point also is a ski area and it was busy!
The mountain views were fantastic.
After winding our way through the Alps we arrived at Zermatt just after sundown.
Cars are not allowed in Zermatt so there is a fleet of electric taxis and busses that can get you anywhere in town.
Not only are the supercute but also spacious!
Our hotel, the Zürbriggen picks up their guests at the railway station for the short ride to the hotel. In our case, we were picked up by the owner, Pirmin Zürbriggen who is an Olympic Gold medalist from the 1988 Calgary Olympics. He and his wife own and operate the hotel! Such a lovely and kind couple!
At the entrance they have a roaring fire to welcome you.
After checkin in Ilya from the front desk escorted us to our room with a view of the Matterhorn. They certainly delivered on that!
Despite it being past sundown in the Zermatt valley, the Matterhorn still held some light for a fantastic photo op from our balcony. You really had a difficult time looking away!
But as our time in Zermatt is short, we had a fondue dinner waiting for us at SayCheese! the most popular fondue restaurant in Zermatt.
We took a taxi to the middle of town and did some walking.
The restaurant is in one of Zermatt’s top hotels, the Grand Zermatterhof.
Inside you will find the restaurant and we sat down and ordered our fondue.
Before long a big, bubbling bowl of cheese arrived with fresh bread, hot potatoes, and crispy veg.
Overall I’m not sure you can have a more Swiss experience than this!
Tomorrow is mountain day. Just you wait!
6 comments
That view of the Matterhorn
No matter (hah) how many times we looked at it, it just didn’t seem real!
O-M-G Gorgeous! I’ve heard of this train and of these places, but I’ve never really paid attention to them. How beautiful! Thanks to you guys, my bucket list keeps getting longer. Enjoy!
It’s definitely worth doing once, even if a bit long. There is a similar train called the Bernina Express that runs through the Alps to Italy. They intersect so you can actually connect from one to the other.
Nothing like fondue in Switzerland! The train looks amazing – what views! Magical!
But there is a reason you only have fondue in Switzerland – OMG were we full! Views from train were fantastic – helped that car was almost entirely windows.
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